Last Sunday, Pastor Ken preached on the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:7-15. We learned that this prayer serves as a pattern for how we should pray and for what we should pray. Simply stated, we should pray together, to our heavenly Father, that he would be glorified, and that he would meet our needs.

Read: Matthew 6:7-15

This Sunday, Pastor Ken will preach from Matthew 6:19-24 on laying up treasures in Heaven. If Jesus Christ is truly our Master, our financial stewardship will reflect fervent ambition for his kingdom alone. As we submit our finances to his Lordship, we invest in eternal, heavenly treasure, which is far greater than temporal earthly treasure.

In preparation for our corporate gathering, please pray that God would soften our hearts, dislodge any selfish ambitions with our money, and fill us with the singular ambition for his kingdom’s advancement. As a primer, consider this excerpt from John Piper’s sermon, “Don’t Be Anxious, Lay Up Treasure in Heaven.”

Reflect

Laying up treasures in heaven is giving money away for Christ’s sake rather than accumulating it.

For example, consider Luke 12:32-33: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.”

Here Jesus explains how you “provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old” and how you “provide yourselves with treasure in the heavens that does not fail,” namely, “Sell your possessions and give to the needy.” That’s how you do it.

In other words, possessions on earth are not for accumulating, they are for distributing in ways that Christ is honored and our joy in heaven is increased (see Ephesians 4:23). When we give — especially when we give so generously that we have to sell something to have anything to give — we show that Christ is our treasure and that we love others more than we love our own security and comfort.

You can see the same thing in Luke 14:13-14 where Jesus tells us to give to those who can’t pay us back. Why? Jesus answers, “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” In other words, when you give freely and generously because you trust Jesus to take care of you, you are laying up treasures in heaven. You will be rewarded at the resurrection of the just.

Randy Alcorn, in that little book, The Treasure Principle, says, “I’m convinced that the greatest deterrent to giving is this: the illusion that earth is our home” (44; see Colossians 3:1-3). It’s not; Christ is our home. And therefore to live is Christ and to die is gain. And it will be all the more gain as we learn to lay up treasures in heaven by giving.

Excerpt from the sermon, “Don’t Be Anxious, Lay Up Treasure in Heaven,” by John Piper, March 2, 2003

Sing: Song List for Sunday

1. “Who You Say I Am,” Arr. by Shane & Shane
2. “Behold Our God,” by Sovereign Grace Music
3. “Man of Sorrows,” by Hillsong Live
4. “My Worth Is Not in What I Own,” Arr. by Shane & Shane

Follow our “Sunday Morning Setlist” on Spotify.